Suresh330 at 06:20, 26 January 2026

2026-01-26T06:20:04Z

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{{Short description|Ethnic violence against Hindus in East Pakistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}

The Rajshahi massacres, marked by widespread ethnic violence and killings of minority Hindus, took place in April 1962 in the [[Rajshahi District|Rajshahi]] and [[Pabna District|Pabna]] districts of [[East Pakistan]].<ref name="dey">{{cite journal |last=Dey |first=Ishita |date=June 2009 |title=On the Margins of Citizenship: Principles of Care and Rights of the Residents of the Ranaghat Women's Home, Nadia District |journal=Refugee Watch |publisher=Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group |location=Kolkata |issue=33 |page=4 |issn=2347-405X |url=http://www.mcrg.ac.in/rw%20files/RW33/RW33.pdf |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="sen2011">{{cite journal |last=Sen |first=Uditi |year=2011 |title=Spinster, Prostitute or Pioneer? Images of Refugee Women in Post-Partition Calcutta |journal=EUI Working Papers |publisher=European University Institute |location=Florence |volume=34 |issn=1830-7728 |url=http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/19216/MWP_Sen_2011_34.pdf?sequence=1 |accessdate=28 August 2014}}</ref> People and property were attacked.<ref name="kpm45">{{cite book |title=Partition, Bengal and After: The Great Tragedy of India |last=Mukhopadhyay |first=Kali Prasad |year=2007 |publisher=Reference Press |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-8405-034-9 |page=45}}</ref> Around three hundred non-Muslims died in the massacre.<ref name="ray216">{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Jayanta Kumar |date=September 1968 |title=Democracy and Nationalism on Trial |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10689/12643 |edition=First |publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study |location=Shimla |page=216}}</ref> In 1958, the military junta led by [[Ayub Khan (President of Pakistan)|Ayub Khan]] came to power in Pakistan.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

== Killings ==
On 22 March 1962, an ethnic riot broke out between the [[Santhals]] and the Muslims in the [[Malda district]] of [[West Bengal]]. The Santhals, armed with bows and arrows, shot dead three Muslims, while six were burnt to death. Between 16 and 20 April, the ethnic tension between the two groups led to another ethnic riot.<ref name="kca">{{cite news |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/tomzgroup/pmwiki/uploads/1310-1962-xx-xx-KS-a-JZW.pdf |title=Earlier Communal Disturbances |work=Keesing's Contemporary Archives |page=20186 |accessdate=22 August 2014 |via=Stanford University}}</ref>

The Pakistani press not only published exaggerated figures of Muslim casualties in [[Maldah district]], even though there was no incident of ethnic violence in the district. [[Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation|Pakistan Radio]] also broadcast false stories of atrocities on minorities in India.<ref name="ray216"/> On 22 April, Lieutenant General [[Azam Khan (general)|Muhammad Azam Khan]], the Governor of East Pakistan, delivered an inflammatory speech with claims of torture of minorities in India. On 23 April, the Bengali Hindus and other ethnic minorities were attacked in the [[Rajshahi Division]]. The District Magistrate of Rajshahi did not take any steps to stop the attacks. Killings, rape, loot, and arson continued for days. They were attacked in the passenger trains at the Rajshahi railway station and in the market adjacent to the Natore railway station.<ref name="lahiry54">{{cite book |last=Lahiry |first=Pravash Chandra |title=India Partitioned And Minorities in Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uME5AQAAIAAJ |year=1964 |publisher=Writer's Forum |pages=54–55}}</ref> In Darusha village of Hujuri Para Union under [[Paba Upazila|Paba police station]], the Hindus were attacked, and many were seriously afflicted.<ref name="hb">{{cite web |url=http://www.hellobangladesh.biz/Bangladesh/District/Thana_Upazila/paba_upazila.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140828172526/http://www.hellobangladesh.biz/Bangladesh/District/Thana_Upazila/paba_upazila.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=28 August 2014 |title=Paba Upazila |work=Hello Bangladesh |accessdate=28 August 2014}}</ref> In Darusha village under Paba police station, 10 people were killed. Thousands of non-Muslims were offered shelter in a school, but brutally it was burnt. <ref name="lahiry54"/> An estimated 3000 non-Muslims were killed in Rajshahi district.<ref name="lahiry54"/>

The Assistant High Commissioner in Rajshahi came to the rescue of the minorities. The intervention of the Indian Assistant High Commission resulted in the troops being called, and the massacre was stopped.<ref name="ray216"/> The Pakistan government whipped up a war hysteria, and the Indian Deputy High Commission at Dhaka was placed under military guard.<ref name="ray239">{{cite book |last=Ray |first=Jayanta Kumar |date=September 1968 |title=Democracy and Nationalism on Trial |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10689/12643 |edition=First |publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study |location=Shimla |page=239}}</ref> It was impossible for the Indian Deputy High Commission to collect information on the attacks on the minorities. Rajeshwar Dayal, the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan who had come to Dhaka too, was not allowed to visit the districts of Rajshahi and Pabna.<ref name="ray239"/>

== Exodus ==
Around 11,000 Santhals and Rajbanshis migrated to India.<ref name="mealib">{{cite web |url=http://mealib.nic.in/?pdf2489?000 |title=Annual Report of the Ministry of External Affairs for 1962-63 |publisher=Ministry of External Affairs, India |page=20 |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Freedom of religion in Bangladesh]]
* [[Human rights in Bangladesh]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajshahi massacres, 1962}}
[[Category:Massacres of Bengali Hindus in East Pakistan]]
[[Category:1962 in East Pakistan]]
[[Category:Looting in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Rajshahi District]]
[[Category:Pabna District]]
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing in Pakistan]]
[[Category:April 1962 in Asia]]
[[Category:1962 murders in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Marketplace attacks in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1962]]
[[Category:Attacks on railway systems]]
[[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Rape in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Rape in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Torture in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Attacks on schools in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:School arson fires in Asia]]
[[Category:Attacks on schools in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Building and structure arson attacks in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Arson in the 1960s]]
[[Category:1960s fires in Asia]]
[[Category:1962 fires]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1962]]
[[Category:Fake news in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Hate speech]]

1962 Rajshahi massacres - Revision history

Suresh330 at 06:20, 26 January 2026